"Driving in My Car" is a song by Madness. It was released as a stand-alone single on 24 July 1982 and spent eight weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number four. It reached number 20 on the Australian Singles Chart. The B-side to the single was "Animal Farm", a mostly instrumental reworking of the song "Tomorrow's Dream" from the album '' 7''. The 12" release of the single included the song "Riding on My Bike", which is basically a rewording of the main track, sung by Lee Thompson. "Driving in My Car" was the 13th in a run of 20 consecutive UK top 20 hits for Madness, and is the only one of those 20 never to have been officially released on a Madness album in the USA. It was later included on the 2010 re-release of the band's 1982 album ''The Rise and Fall'', as well as its two B-sides.

Video

The video shows Madness as car mechanics larking about in their workshop, and in their normal suits driving around in their "Maddiemobile" – a white 1959 model

Morris Minor The Morris Minor is a British economy family car that made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 million were manufactured between 1948 and 1972 in ...

. The members of fellow ska/pop group

Fun Boy Three Fun Boy Three were an English new wave pop Fun Boy Three Allmusic bio/ref> band, active from 1981 to 1983 and formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding after they left the Specials. They released two albums and had seve ...

make a brief appearance, trying (and failing) to hitch a ride to their home town of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, which the A45 mentioned in the song passes through.

Track listing

*7" single #"Driving in My Car" – 3:17 #"Animal Farm (Tomorrow's Dream Warp Mix)" -4:02 *12" single #"Driving in My Car" – 3:17 #"Animal Farm (Tomorrow's Dream Warp Mix)" -4:02 #"Riding on My Bike" – 4:35

Certifications and sales

Charts

References

1982 songs 1982 singles Madness (band) songs Stiff Records singles Songs written by Mike Barson Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Songs about cars {{1980s-song-stub